Oceanside scrappy under new coach

Despite having just one win to show for it, the Oceanside girls’ soccer team, under a new coach, is already turning heads this season by pushing some of the top teams in the county to their limits.

Former assistant Danielle Chiera took over a mostly intact roster from Marianna Winchester that won four games last season, and her guidance has so far resulted in near upsets against the 2023 private and public school state champions, a county titleist, and a Nassau finalist. Oceanside held a lead in two of its three losses, which have all been by one goal.

The Sailors have another tough test against undefeated Garden City on Friday.

“I think it’s really the attitude and confidence of the girls,” Chiera said. “They’re all working for each other and they’re putting in a ton of effort and a ton of time and finding ways to work together to be the best team on the field.”

A late rally fell short in a 2-1 loss to CHSAA-champion Sacred Heart heading into their encounter with defending Class AAA titleist Massapequa on Sept. 5. Senior Vanessa Frangiadakis scored her second goal in as many games on a breakaway in the first half and the Chiefs tied it later in the session and the teams battled to a stalemate the rest of the way.

“Our girls really took that as an opportunity to come out as strong as they could in the first conference game,” Chiera explained. “That first goal went in and you felt the whole environment just explode. Our bench went crazy and the fans went crazy.”

Four days later, the Sailors posted a wild 5-3 win at Calhoun in which the teams combined for seven goals in the first half. Molly Boller had two in the game, fellow junior Ava Bowers and seniors Sam Gemmo and Addison Vice had the others, and senior Julianna Ewashko recorded nine saves.

A second-half goal by Syosset on Sept. 11 resulted in a 1-0 loss and Oceanside jumped out to a 2-0 lead against AA-champ South Side on first-half tallies by Gemmo and senior Leigha Zaman, but the Cyclones rallied and won 3-2 on a late goal. Zaman (1-4-5) had assists in each of the first three games and displayed a nice chemistry with Gemmo (2-1-3) when they set up each other’s goals against South Side.

“Leigha is very dynamic and loves to shoot,” Chiera said. “Her focus is going forward. When she gets it, she’s taking off and she has the goal in sight. Sammy likes to take players on and use her foot skills to set up the goal that she wants.”

Senior Daniella Cairo had two assists against Calhoun and junior Chloe Polito added a helper.

There is plenty of depth at midfield with sophomore Gianna Visone and senior Kaylin Harrington manning the middle with senior Sam Friedman and junior Cathryn Evans outside. Junior Ryann Zydor had a strong defensive game against South Side and leads a back end with Cairo, sophomore Madeline McMurray, and senior Savannah Castoro.

Ewashko has 40 saves after recording 100 in 2023.